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Blog: Libya unrest causes oilsands rethink
March 8, 2011
Revolution in the oil-producing Arab world has created chaos in oil markets and ignited new interest in Canada's oilsands.

Unrest in the Arab world has caused crude oil prices to spike in recent days, as oil-hungry Western democracies fret over supply concerns should the spigots suddenly turn off.

The price for the European benchmark, Brent crude, closed at $113.06 a barrel on Tuesday. The North American equivalent closed down slightly at $104.93 in New York.

Both have risen to near their pre-recessionary highs. That, in turn has caused renewed interest in the Athabasca basin, home to the world's second-largest reserve of crude oil.

"The higher oil prices we're seeing because of what's happening in Libya are certainly very useful for pushing the Alberta tarsands as an alternative," Schulich School of Business Perry Sadorsky said in an interview Tuesday. "That's a major factor in why some people have changed their tune."

